Hi Room 2 Families,
Wow~is November flying by! We've been so busy in Room 2 these past several weeks. Here's some of what we've been working on....
Social Studies
We read a variety of books as we learned about the important job of the President of the United States. We discussed how presidents are elected, what it means to vote, how the rights of voters have changed dramatically over the years, and how to respect the opinions and ideas of others when talking about candidates. Kids thought about what would be awesome about being the President and what would be challenging about being the President. Many kids loved the idea of playing on the White House lawn, riding in Air Force One, helping people of the world to get along, passing or vetoing bills, and keeping people safe. Many thought that giving speeches to many people would be especially challenging. We had a mock election at Happy Hollow that was organized by the fifth grade teachers and students. Kids were proud to cast their votes for their favored candidate.
Literacy
I encourage everyone to continue the valuable practice of reading with your child for at least 15 minutes every day/night. It’s wonderful to curl up and enjoy a good book together, plus the practice is crucial to children's developing reading skills! All of the students in our class are making important gains this year, and encouraging your child to read both independently and with you shows him/her that you know how hard he/she has been working. Our Word Work lessons have focused on the sound spelling cards from the Open Court phonics program, pairing auditory, visual, and motor exercises to help kids retain the letter sounds and the variety of spellings that they have. For example, the "Ss" card's chant is "Sizzling sausages, sizzling sausages, /s/ /s/ /s/!" and the /s/ sound can be spelled s, ce- and ci-. In Writer's Workshop, we've continued working in our journals each Monday and have also begun work writing "Small Moments" or personal narratives that zoom in on an event or a small part of their day (rather than writing a whole day's events).
Math
We’ve been focusing on a wide range of math activities during the past month. We’ve been working on solving story problems (word problems) and showing our thinking that supports our problem solving (pictures and equations). We’ve focused on simple addition and subtraction problems as well as more challenging problems that include missing addends. You can easily make up addition or subtraction problems for your child to work on at home. Here are a few examples:
· I picked 7 orange pumpkins. My friend picked 8 green pumpkins. How many pumpkins did we pick altogether? 7+8=?
· I had 12 balloons. Seven of them popped. How many are left? 12-7=?
· Two rabbits were sitting on the grass. Some more rabbits hopped there. Then there were five rabbits. How many rabbits hopped over to the first two? 2+?=5
· Seven apples were on the table. I ate some apples There were five apples left. How many apples did I eat? 7-?=5
· Five fish are in my fishbowl. Three are red and the rest are blue. How many fish are blue? 3+?=5, 5-3=?
· Lucy has 2 apples. Julie has 5 apples. How many more apples does Julie have than Lucy?
· Lucy has 2 apples Julie has 5 apples. How many fewer apples does Lucy have than Julie? 2+?=5, 5-2=?
Children are learning the important relationship between addition and subtraction as we fill in number bonds and learn about fact families. For example, the number 7 in a number bond can be broken into 2 parts, 3 and 4, from which these equations can be made...
3+4=7
4+3=7 (also known as the turn-around fact)
7-3=4
7-4=3
Children have also worked on a number of activities that have helped them to focus on number combinations for numbers 6 through 10. For example, the number 6 has the following number combinations that can be shown in equations: 0+6=6, 1+5=6, 2+4=6, 3+3=6, 4+2=6, 5+1=6 and 6+0=6. We will continue working on these numbers and number combinations throughout the year, processing fluency and flexibility with the equations (addition and subtraction).
Other ideas to reinforce your child’s math skills at home include practicing counting forward and backward by 1’s, starting at different numbers. You can also help your child practice counting forward by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s. In order to make practicing a bit more fun, you may want to try the following ideas:
- Challenge your child to do jumping jacks while you both count by 5’s to 100.
- Challenge your child to hop on one foot while you count by 10’s to 100.
- Challenge your child to brush his/her teeth while YOU count backwards from 62 (or any other number).
- Challenge your child to count by 2’s as he/she climbs the stairs. The next night you can count by 2’s starting at a different number.
Remember to join in whenever you have the time or the energy! Your child can count for you and then you can count for your child. Hearing the counts can be just as helpful as saying the counts. It provides your child with needed exposure and awareness of numbers. It may be helpful to concentrate on one kind of counting each week, for example, counting by 5’s, so that your child can fully establish one pattern before moving on to another one.
We’ve been doing lots of work with the Zones of Regulation. Ask your child about the different Zones, green, red, yellow, and blue, and how he/she may be feeling in each of these Zones.
Below is an excerpt from Lynda Kuypers’ website about the Zones:
“’Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it.’
Charles Swindoll
Self-regulation is something everyone continually works on, whether we are cognizant of it or not. We all encounter trying circumstances that test our limits from time to time. If we are able to recognize when we are becoming less regulated, we are able to do something about it to feel better and get ourselves to a better place. This comes naturally for some, but for others it is a skill that needs to be taught and practiced. This is the goal of The Zones of Regulation (or Zones for short).
What are The Zones of Regulation?
The Zones is a systematic, cognitive behavior approach used to teach self-regulation by categorizing all the different ways we feel and states of alertness we experience into four concrete zones. The Zones curriculum provides strategies to teach students to become more aware of, and independent in controlling their emotions and impulses, managing their sensory needs, and improving their ability to problem solve conflicts.
By addressing underlying deficits in emotional and sensory regulation, executive functions, and social cognition, the curriculum is designed to help move students toward independent regulation. The Zones of Regulation incorporates Social Thinking® (www.socialthinking.com) concepts and numerous visuals to teach students to identify their feelings/level of alertness, understand how their behavior impacts those around them, and learn what tools they can use to manage their feelings and states.
The Four Zones: Our Feelings & States Determine Our Zone
The Red Zone is used to describe extremely heightened states of alertness and intense emotions. A person may be elated or experiencing anger, rage, explosive behavior, devastation, or terror when in the Red Zone.
The Yellow Zone is also used to describe a heightened state of alertness and elevated emotions; however, one has some control when they are in the Yellow Zone. A person may be experiencing stress, frustration, anxiety, excitement, silliness, the wiggles, or nervousness when in the Yellow Zone.
The Green Zone is used to describe a calm state of alertness. A person may be described as happy, focused, content, or ready to learn when in the Green Zone. This is the zone where optimal learning occurs.
The Blue Zone is used to describe low states of alertness and down feelings, such as when one feels sad, tired, sick, or bored.
The Zones can be compared to traffic signs. When given a green light or in the Green Zone, one is “good to go”. A yellow sign means be aware or take caution, which applies to the Yellow Zone. A red light or stop sign means stop, and when one is the Red Zone, this often is the case. The Blue Zone can be compared to the rest area signs where one goes to rest or re-energize. All of the zones are expected at one time or another, but the curriculum focuses on teaching students how to manage their Zone based on the environment and people around them. For example, when playing on the playground or in an active/competitive game, no one would think twice about one being in the Yellow Zone but that would not be same in the library.
Creating a system such as The Zones to categorize all the complex feelings students experience eases students’ ability to recognize and communicate how they are feeling, as well as tap into strategies to aid them in self-regulation.”
In addition to focusing on the zones and practicing 2-minute meditations on calm.com, we’ve also been practicing calm breathing with stories like “Sea Otter Cove” and “A Boy and a Bear”, both by Lori Lite. We’ve read the books and listened to a guided breathing practice on You Tube.
In case you haven't heard...
We're a STAR CLASSROOM!!
We filled our jewel jar at the end of last week which means that we are now a Star Classroom~the first at Happy Hollow this school year! We had a total of 210 jewels which represents 210 times that kids made good choices, shared an act of kindness and/or had a star special (i.e. gym, music, art, etc.). We'll vote on a special event later this week as a reward for such a wonderful accomplishment. Way to go Room 2!!!
Looking Ahead...
We're excited to welcome 2 "Global Ambassadors" to our classroom this week....details to come!
Take care and enjoy the week ahead,
Lise :)
